Leicester City should seriously consider looking at recalling one of their young stars out on loan in January.
The Foxes have endured a difficult start to the season, winning two of their opening 10 Premier League games and most recently suffered a heavy 5-2 defeat against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup.
It was another sorry tale for Steve Cooper as his side continue to leak goals left, right, and centre, as well as fail to create and convert chances.
There are plenty of questions as to how Leicester try and change their fortunes, but the answer is a lot closer than most think.
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Leicester City should recall Ben Nelson in January
While chances are hard to come by, Cooper’s side have scored in every game so far this season and still have more than enough firepower in their locker.
Their defensive woes are evident however and despite signing Caleb Okoli in the summer, adding to a list already featuring Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes, and Conor Coady, the East Midlanders are lacking in quality.
There is every chance that Cooper and the Foxes hierarchy may look to recruit in the summer window, with defenders such as Joyskim Dawa previously linked, but they should recall Ben Nelson.
Loaned to Oxford United on deadline day, Nelson has played six times and although they are yet to taste victory, have drawn five of those games.
Nelson, 20, currently ranks fourth in the Championship for clearances and has a 100% tackle rate against opposing dribbles.
It may be early days but the Foxes academy graduate is showing all the traits required to succeed at the top level and could even save Cooper and co millions in the transfer window when it comes to improving the squad.
| Ground duels | 40 |
| Ground duels won | 27 |
| Aerial duels won | 14 |
| Dribbled past | 0 |
| Clearances | 28 |
| Shots blocked | 5 |
Oxford coach heaps praise on Ben Nelson
The youngster’s impact is making plenty of headlines at Oxford and assistant manager Craig Short wasn’t short of praise for how Nelson has fared in his opening few months at the Kassam Stadium.
Short told the Oxford Mail: “I’ve spoken to him quite a bit about it. When you’ve got one centre forward pressing you, you can do that.
“He’s got exceptional pace as well. He glides across the ground and is probably one of the quickest players here. He’s got two good feet, and you wouldn’t think he was right-footed with some of the left-footed diagonals he was hitting.
“We’ll encourage him to do that, of course we will, and then you’ve always got someone who can fill in for him. I’m not going to stop him doing that.”